Half Moon RunSugar Nightclub, Victoria BC, December 7, 2015

If I was trying to initiate the process of falling in love, either in myself or in someone I was interested in, I would be constantly listening to Half Moon Run. The lovers in Victoria came in out in full force for the Montreal-based folk rockers, selling out the show weeks in advance. Before Half Moon Run took the stage, Sugar Nightclub was abuzz, with more faces turned to the empty stage than normal for a packed show like this. From the moment the band took the stage, couples got close, hands were held and smiles were pasted across the faces of almost everyone in the place.

Half Moon Run delivered a tight set of date night music that never offended or drove too quickly, but that stayed in a comfortable, ultimately pleasant groove. As I said, these guys make music for lovers and damn, some of these songs are sexy as hell. "Nerve" and "Need It" from their debut Dark Eyes, the latter played while the band was slathered in red light, had me looking around for my absent partner. "Trust," the final track on their recently released Sun Leads Me On, was the sexy highlight of the night, just a damned good rock song.

When they weren't oozing inoffensive sex, they're making music for the most lovesick among us. Men are traditionally lovesick creatures and the music of Half Moon Run could score any of number of late-night brooding sessions, especially the ones augmented by scotch and craft beer. "Hands in the Garden" and "Unofferable" acted as a one-two punch of booze-soaked angst, though both are unabashedly beautiful and earnest, like all of Half Moon Run's stuff.

If you were lucky enough to be there with someone you're into romantically, you probably had the best time and if you were there alone, your mind may have wandered a bit here and there during the band's 85-minute set, but you still had a fine Monday night of thoughtful folk rock.